The mother of a 9-year-old boy struck by a sport utility vehicle in May will thank an off-duty nurse for saving her son during a ceremony Thursday morning at University Hospital.

Christian Ortiz, of Renwick Avenue, was struck May 3 under the Interstate 81 overpass on Almond Street, Syracuse police said.

Nurse Peter Banks saw the boy turn blue and jumped out of his vehicle. Banks, a former British army nursing captain, immediately began cardiopulmonary resuscitation and kept the boy alive until an ambulance arrived. Ortiz was treated for head injuries at University Hospital.

Lilibeth Correa, Christian's mother, called Banks her "little angel." The ceremony will be at 10:30 a.m. on the lawn to the right of the University Hospital traffic circle.